Chapter 17: The Powerful Enemy Arrives
Remember in one second
Brothers, we are just one step away from the new book list, asking for firepower support!
Just climbed up the slope, 5 IS-2's movements were a bit slow, as if the fat man had walked a long way and the old man had gone upstairs. The white smoke rising from the rear was like the engine bearing an excessive burden. However, this is only a superficial phenomenon, after adjustment, they quickly returned to normal. The thick cannon mouth was raised high, like a fearless "ox horn immortal", the surrounding T-34 was like a younger brother in front of and behind the saddle, both the turret and the barrel looked more delicate.
In the midst of the Soviet armored forces, there were not only these two types of combat vehicles, but also many assault guns and self-propelled artillery mixed in with the T-34s behind them. One type had a uniquely shaped gun shield, with an eyeball-like shape and edges that resembled eye sockets, making it look like a strange one-eyed beast. Another looked as if a large flat iron box had been placed at the front of the tank chassis, with the front half of the tank turret welded to the left side of the box - also mounting a large gun on the tank body, they looked much more rugged than the German III or IV assault guns.
Taking a deep breath, Lin En suddenly felt that this battle was far from as optimistic as he had imagined. Those ugly and aesthetically unpleasing Soviet tanks and assault guns had all been tempered on the battlefield, were the strongest equipment of the Soviet Army during World War II, and here they also held an obvious numerical advantage, and could still receive strong air and artillery support. Wanting to stop their advance was going to be tough!
Lynn didn't know if the others on the defense line were also shaken by the enemy's strong formation like himself. He retreated, lay down in a shell hole, and pulled out a package of bullets from his pocket. The shiny 10 rounds of ammunition made him feel slightly better. After counting, he found that there should be four more rounds left in the rifle magazine, so he opened the bolt, pushed the gun forward to reset it, causing the bullet clip to pop out automatically. He then pulled out one round from another row of bullets and manually reloaded it. He placed this row of bullets with one missing round along with the other four rows at the edge of the shell hole, and put the remaining five rows back into his pocket along with the cowhide paper package. He leaned the Mauser rifle against the side, took out the "PPSh" submachine gun and a drum magazine package. This Soviet-made submachine gun used a 71-round circular drum magazine, so the drum magazine package was also nearly round in shape, containing a complete spare drum and some loose rounds. Lynn removed the original drum from the "PPSh", feeling that it was significantly lighter than the spare drum. After fiddling with it for a while, he disassembled it and suddenly felt lucky: there were less than 10 rounds left inside, just enough to fire one burst. Unknowingly carrying it into battle, who knows when it would jam again at a critical moment? It was unlikely that he could always be so lucky as to get rescued by his companions!
He hastily changed into a spare drum, originally wanting to load the scattered bullets into the old drum, but the rumbling cannon fire had already opened the curtain of battle. He turned his head and saw that the first to open fire were those "tank chassis with flat boxes" - SU-152s. This self-propelled artillery was equipped with a powerful 152mm howitzer, with a maximum range of 9 kilometers, having strong lethality against fortified positions and armored targets. When firing, they stopped in place to achieve better accuracy, the cannon fire reverberating like thunder in his ears. At a distance of only 3 kilometers, the shells they fired flew over the battlefield at a relatively low arc, landing on the German position in an instant. With the naked eye, one could see the massive explosion triggering ground tremors, grayish-white smoke surging around and upwards, eventually forming a huge mushroom-shaped cloud.
In the front-line trenches, Lin had endured bombardments of larger caliber shells before, but this was his first time witnessing a heavy artillery barrage on their position. Besides being deeply shocked, he could only silently pray for the brothers stationed at the forefront. Of course, he also needed to pray for himself, as just one shell with such power would be enough to flatten the small hill they were on.
With the artillery fire of SU-152 as a signal, dozens of Soviet tanks - SU-76, SU-100 and T-34 - swept in and opened fire. Although the medium- and long-range artillery had already combed through the village and German positions, direct firepower still had its value. Seemingly usable forward artillery positions, machine gun shelters, and suspected command posts were all hit by artillery fire. German soldiers rushing from reserve positions to the front-line trenches were intercepted in the communication trenches, forced to crouch at the bottom of the trenches to avoid the shelling, while on the front line, only a small number of sentry soldiers defended.
The Soviet tanks, assault guns and self-propelled artillery continued to suppress the battlefield with stop-and-go fire, except for those five IS-2s advancing silently without firing a shot. The heavy tank's Model 1943/43-type 122mm tank gun was second to none among the main battle tanks of World War II in terms of caliber, and its powerful firepower could deliver a fatal blow to most German tanks at a distance of 1500 meters. The maximum range for firing high-explosive shells reached an astonishing 14 kilometers. With large-caliber guns and heavy shells, each IS-2 normally had only 28 rounds of ammunition, and this time they seemed to be saving their ammo for the crucial moment as they advanced towards their old foes in the German camp.
Located in a position where he could overlook the entire battlefield, Lin En realized that if German tanks or anti-tank guns fired at this time, they would immediately be countered by the Soviet army's superior firepower. Facing powerful opponents like IS-2 and SU-100, even Tiger tanks didn't dare to underestimate them. As the Soviet armored group advanced step by step, the situation on the battlefield gradually developed in a direction extremely unfavorable to the defenders. Even with knowledge that surpassed this era by decades and an understanding of historical development, Lin En could only feel anxious. Just as the lead Soviet T-34 was about to reach within a thousand meters of the German first line's trenches, and its onboard machine gun was about to exert its close-range suppressive effect, one of the T-34s suddenly exploded. At this time, although there was some smoke on the battlefield, visibility was generally still good. Since no shells or rockets were seen coming in, excluding the extremely low probability of a self-destructing explosion, only one possibility remained: landmine!
A single standard anti-tank mine is usually not enough to destroy a medium tank like the T-34. Taking the Tellermine, which was the most numerous German anti-tank mine, as an example, this disc-shaped mine, although equipped with 5 kg of explosives, found it very difficult to directly penetrate the bottom armor of Soviet tanks or cause serious concussion injuries to the crew inside.
The smoke has slightly dispersed, and the T-34 that was hit by the anti-tank gun indeed lost its left track and the front idler wheel on the same side. Since it was still out of range of the German machine guns, tank crew members soon escaped from the open hatch. These people did not join the accompanying infantry in battle but also did not retreat directly to the rear; instead, they waited far away, seemingly thinking that this battle would soon end in victory for their own side, at which time they could calmly repair their own tank.
Although one of the tanks was heavily mined, this Soviet armored combat group did not stop to wait for infantry to clear mines. In fact, once Soviet infantry were sent out to sweep for mines, such a distance would allow German positions on the ground to use mortars or heavy machine guns. To reduce the likelihood of mine explosions, Soviet tanks chose to drive on roads with more shell craters, which slowed down the overall advance speed, and the front row tanks might expose their sides, but it was also the most time-saving and effective method in previous battles.
Linn couldn't help but wipe the sweat from his brow for his side's defense line once again, and what he didn't expect was that about 5 kilometers behind the village, several German soldiers pushed out a 41-style 150mm smoke launcher from a hidden position. This weapon is basically consistent with the Soviet Katyusha rocket artillery in operating principle, consisting of six bundled round launch tubes distributed in a star shape and the mount of the Pak36-type 37mm anti-tank gun, which can fire six smoke rockets or high-explosive rockets within 10 seconds, with an effective range of 6 to 7 kilometers. Although this equipment was developed as early as 1938 and is simple and easy to use, with slight improvements it could greatly enhance the firepower density of frontline troops, but it has never been valued by the German military - there were many opportunities to change the outcome of World War II, Dunkirk in 1940, Moscow in 1941, Stalingrad in 1942, Kursk in 1943, and even Normandy in 1944, however, when Linn arrived, the Empire was already not far from its doom, what could one person do?
In the midst of eerie screams, the German smoke launchers fired, and rockets with long tails flew over the village, but their range seemed insufficient, one by one falling in front of the Soviet tank cluster. Some were only a few dozen meters away from the German trenches, but Lynn's doubts were quickly answered. After the rockets landed, they emitted dull thuds, and large amounts of white smoke poured out of the shells. In just an instant, the entire area in front of the German position was shrouded in impenetrable smoke.
Hindered by the smoke, the Soviet artillery was unable to fire. Linen turned his head and saw that the German soldiers were quickly reloading the smoke generator. In just two minutes, this unassuming equipment fired again, and six smoke rockets flew in a curved trajectory to the front of the village. Soon, the entire German position was shrouded in white smoke, like a terrifying monster, slowly swallowing up twenty or thirty Soviet tanks at the forefront, and spreading slowly towards the east.
Just then, Lin En saw the "thickets" hidden at the edge of the forest move, avoiding the enemy's sharp front and quietly circling around the opponent's flank. Taking advantage of the weakness in the enemy's firepower, the German soldiers who were previously blocked in the traffic trenches and second-line positions quickly entered the front trench. The anti-tank combat groups using "tank killers" and "dolls" jumped forward in a scattered manner with the help of the craters and large shell holes in front of the trenches. On the defender's side, the battle horn was blown by the large-caliber anti-tank guns hidden in the woods around the village!
